mass_communication_and_societyfandomcom-20200213-history
CMF Chapter 1
This is an example of mid B work. It is complete and accurate but does not integrate outside examples or illustrations via links or embedded videos. See the rubric for additional details. Sample outline (without notes) I. Culture and the Evolution of Mass Communication a. Media and culture b. Cultural eras i. Oral and Written Eras ii. The Print revolution iii. The Electronic Era iv. The Digital Era c. The Linear Model of Communication d. Cultural model II. Media’s role in society a. Emergence and convergence b. Media convergence i. Dual roles ii. Media business iii. Cultural change c. Storytelling d. Media and our lives III. Surveying the cultural landscape a. Skyscraper model of communication i. Inability to appreciate fine art ii. A tendency to exploit high culture iii. Throw away ethic iv. A diminished audience for high culture v. Cultural taste buds b. Culture as map i. Familiar stories ii. What’s new iii. Wide range of messages iv. Challenging nostalgia IV. Cultural values of the modern period a. Modern period b. Progressive Era c. Postmodern period V. Critiquing media and culture a. Media literacy and the critical process b. Benefits of a critical perspective Completed outline I. Culture and the Evolution of Mass Communication Campbell, Martin, and Fabos (2013). Media and Culture: Mass Communication in a Digital Age. Bedford St. Martin's: New York. a. Media and culture i. Communication (media) is defined as the process which generates symbols to create a shared meaning. ii. Culture is defined as the way we find and express our values in our everyday lives through symbols of expression. 1. The book gives the example of “rugged individualism” as a cultural value that is exemplified in numerous films, songs, and other cultural texts. 2. Another example of a cultural value is personal success as measured through acquisition of material wealth. Numerous songs and films feature this value. a. Pink Floyd’s “Money” is a good example. The song’s lyrics, “Money, It’s a hit, Don’t give me that do goody good bullshit, I’m in the high-fidelity first class travelling set, I think I need a Lear jet.” b. Another good example of this value is the film “Limitless” in which a do-nothing author discovers a pill that can make him more productive and successful. Through his own ingenuity and shady dealings, he’s able to become a financial success. iii. Mass Media are the institutions that help spread culture throughout society. They produce various cultural texts (e.g. newspapers, magazines, reality TV) that both reflect our culture and shape it. b. Cultural eras i. Oral era and written era 1. Information and culture moved slowly and was transmitted through less formal means compared to today (e.g. through teachers and poets). With the advent of writing systems, documents could be used to pass along culture and information but the use of this means of communication was limited to elite classes. 2. The written form of communication came into conflict with subscribers to purely oral forms of expression with the latter believing that argumentation and communication would be diminished should ideas be communicated via text rather than orally. ii. The Print revolution 1. Just like written documents in the previous era, print books were first only available to elites because of their size and cost. 2. There are three necessary components to create innovation in the mass market which the printing press helped spur for prints a. Machine innovation eliminated the amount of human investment needed in printing. b. The press increased the pace of production. c. Reduced copy costs made books cheaper—After an initial investment in making plates for a book, each additional copy spreads that first copy cost across more copies. For example, if you make a single copy of a book on a printing press you’d need to recoup your entire investment in that one copy. If you make two copies, then the cost of the books is about half of what it would be with a single copy. With 1,000 copies, each book needs to be sold for 1/1000th of the initial investment. 3. The print revolution also increased the speed at which ideas and culture could be spread. a. This challenged the authority of existing social institutions. b. Because individuals were also reading texts that were dispersed across a wider area, people started thinking of themselves as belonging to larger communities rather than as isolated families or villages. c. Helped spur the creation of nation states. 4. The print revolution and the notion of using a mechanical process instead of human labor also helped spur the industrial revolution. a. Created an elite capitalist class which took the place of nobility and clergy. b. Print became a tool for maintaining social order. 5. Print also couldn’t be controlled by a single entity or dominant institution, although attempts at controlling print were made. This lead to a. The democratization of knowledge b. Increased literacy c. Created a need for mandatory education to fill the needs of employers 6. Printed ideas also helped develop a sense of individualism as people could rely on the ideas and information in print rather than through institutional leaders such as clergy or political leaders. iii. The Electronic Era 1. Industrialization made urban centers more important than rural areas as more people began to work in factories compared to farms. 2. Communication changed again with the advent of the telegraph. a. Communication was no longer tied to a transportation method. b. Made information a commodity. What this means is that information was no longer valuable because of what it meant, how it impacted the person reading it, or how you could take action with it. Information became valuable based on how far it had traveled and how much of it you had. i. The book says that information became commodity. What they mean by this is that any bit of information had as much value as the next bit, much the same as one drop of oil is just as valuable as the next bit. See Wikipedia’s entry on commodities for more information. c. Made it easier to coordinate action across space due to the ability to send information instantaneously across great distances. d. Helped lay the necessary groundwork for future technological developments. iv. The Digital Era 1. The digital era started with the ability to send communications through binary bits of data rather than through analog signals. Signals are broken down into 0’s and 1’s by the sender, and that signal is then reassembled at the receiver’s end. 2. Unlike previous era transitions, the digital era came so quickly that leaders in various forms of communication lost some of their authority and control over information. a. E.g. citizen journalists sometimes break news faster than other news outlets today. b. The post office has lost as well with email becoming more dominant in the way we send interpersonal and business related communications. c. The Linear Model of Communication i. Focuses on examining how accurately a sender is able to send a message to a receiver through a mass mediated channel. Sometimes gatekeepers decide which bits of information are allowed to be sent onward. Senders receive feedback through various means which can communicate whether the message was well-received, meaning both whether the receiver liked the message and whether it was understood accurately. ii. A criticism of the linear model is that it ignores the interrelated nature of communication. Communications don’t occur in a cultural, political vacuum and are influenced by numerous factors outside the sender/receiver relationship. d. Cultural model i. This is a more modern model in the sense that it recognizes that different people will interpret similar messages differently due to their unique social, political, or cultural background. 1. For example, a politician can release a statement to the press and then depending on which cable news network viewers get the information and their own unique backgrounds, audiences may arrive at very different conclusions based on that data. ii. This model illustrates the lack of control senders sometimes have over their communications once they are distributed to audiences. II. Media’s role in society a. Emergence to convergence – when new media develop they go through four stages of innovations. i. Emergence/novelty 1. Inventors are trying to solve some problem or need through the use or invention of a new technology. ii. Entrepreneurial 1. Inventors try to find some marketable use for the product. iii. Mass medium 1. The product becomes widely available as it becomes a consumer product. Early adopters in the field sometimes help pave the way for future mass marketing of a consumer product. a. Even though the navy and the government were responsible for the creation and widespread development of radio technology, early amateur radio broadcasters really spurred the creation of radio as a mass medium. b. A modern example of this are Google glasses. Right now the glasses are in an entrepreneurial stage with only limited functionality. Early adopters are being given the opportunity to purchase the glasses and write more code and programs for it. Within a few years, if the product is successful and consumers find the new functionality useful, the glasses may become a mass marketed good. iv. Convergence – With the development of a new medium, older media sometimes altered and integrated into the newer medium. A good example of this is cell phones became a converged platform for viewing television, radio, and news. b. Media convergence/ dual roles i. Technological convergence – one platform begins to serve as an access point for various forms of media. The Internet allows us to access various media through a single platform like our cell phones or computers. ii. Cross platform convergence – One business merges with another platform’s business either through entering into a new field or through acquisition. For example, Comcast provides distribution of cable television, acts as an ISP, and now also produces content through NBC. iii. Converged media business 1. Companies like Google and Facebook d not generate any content on their own. Rather, they help collect or point people to the information they desire and sell advertising against it. 2. Old media forms like newspapers and television are still the primary forms of content generation and newer, converged media have a stake in seeing them continue to succeed in a converged media setting. Without them, they’d have nothing to sell advertising against. a. i.e. Google can’t sell you ads against your news searches if there is no longer any news for you to search. b. Facebook can’t sell ads against your search for friends if you’re no longer interested in keeping in touch with them. 3. This shows us that while new media have eroded traditional definitions of media, they have not completely supplanted them. Yet, these new media chip away at the profitability of older media that still produce the high quality content newer media use to generate their own revenue. iv. Cultural change 1. When people can delay watching a program and pick from a variety of programs to watch we have fewer shared texts and as a result fewer shared experiences. Today we focus more on individual interests rather than on broader interests. 2. We also consume media simultaneously and consistently throughout the day via phones and computers. Unlike in the past where you would have to sit down in your living room to watch television or at the breakfast table to read a newspaper, you can do those things at any point during the day from almost any location. c. Storytelling i. Stories form the backbone of many media industries and also help shape our perceptions of important happenings or issues. The book gives the example of the Vietnam war as an instance where media coverage and storytelling drastically altered public opinion on that issue. ii. Storytelling today focuses more on everyday people instead of larger social issues or broader narratives. The characters seem more relatable and ordinary compared to typical narratives from even ten or 15 years ago. iii. With the advent of social media, viewers can sometimes be an active element in the storytelling process. 1. The book gives the example of the Occupy Wall Street movement as an example of how a grassroots movement gained momentum via social media and shaped the dominant narrative for a period of time. 2. Another, less impactful, example of the way in which audiences impact narratives is a new television series, Defiance which also has a MMORPG component. Players of the game interact in the game with characters from the television program and shape the televised narrative. This is the first television series to integrate video games into its narrative in this manner. d. Media and our lives i. Media undoubtedly serve a role in society and early debates about what that role should be centered around whether should entertain and uplift or reflect reality, no matter how distasteful. ii. This perspective is a good example of the conflict between “high culture” and “low culture,” which is seen by some as to erode traditional values. 1. An example of low culture media today might be reality television while high culture might be “Masterpiece Theater.” iii. This high/low debate is still ongoing. Today critics of media are concerned about glorifying certain types of behaviors (e.g. teen pregnancy, dangerous behavior, drinking). Research shows that media are not the sole influence on viewers today but the question remains as to how much of an impact they have on viewers. III. Surveying the cultural landscape – There are two primary metaphors for understanding how culture works in our everyday lives. The first is the hierarchical Skyscraper model and the second is the map model. a. Skyscraper model of culture – In this model of culture, high culture activities like ballet and opera occupy the top floors of a cultural skyscraper while “junk” and low cultural activities like reality television, violent films, and daytime talk shows occupy the lower floors. Based on this model of culture, there are several concerns critics raise. Within this perspective, those criticisms are i. Inability to appreciate fine art -Appreciation of low art means you cannot simultaneously appreciate high art. The logic is that if you like and appreciate for profit, commercial media then you cannot possess the faculties to like and enjoy high art/culture. ii. A tendency to exploit high culture -Low culture will recycle and co-opt high culture. The book gives the example of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein as a character and narrative that were converted into pop culture icons. iii. Throw away ethic -Low culture by its very nature appeals to the leas common denominator in a market and has a very short life span. High culture (e.g. Mozart) has serious staying power, remaining within culture for decades or centuries. Popular culture, on the other hand, is discarded fairly quickly. iv. A diminished audience for high culture -The large amount and widespread availability of low culture may be crowding out high culture because people can’t readily find it or that it isn’t as conveniently located as low culture. v. Cultural taste buds -Another criticism of low culture is that it diminishes our ability to engage in meaningful and substantive argumentation with one another. This can be a hinderance to enacting social change as citizens become less equipped to be able to grapple with important issues and happening. b. Culture as map – Where the skyscraper model of culture maps cultural texts as falling on a high to low continuum, the map model focuses on illustrating the complex positions from which we consume and understand such texts. In other words, it does not presume that audiences can only appreciate a certain range of high or low culture texts. i. Familiar stories – Familiar narratives are comfortable narratives. Using texts that feature characters, plot elements, and themes that are familiar is one thing that makes texts more valuable for viewers. ii. What’s new – Cultural texts sometimes offer us something new, out of the ordinary that we’re not used to. iii. Wide range of messages – People come from varied cultural backgrounds and as a result, media texts are equally various. iv. Challenging nostalgia – Some critics argue that current forms of cultural expression challenge the values of “the good old days” and we’d be better off without them. IV. Cultural values of the modern period a. Modern period i. Efficiency 1. Captains of early industry figured out how to make complex and tedious processes more efficient. Modern problems are also sometimes solved through greater efficiency. Urbanization created a premium on space, hence the creation of skyscrapers and urban planning. 2. Efficiency is not without its drawbacks however. With greater efficiency and mechanization of previously organic processes, we may be losing something in the transition. a. E.g. Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World in which efficiency has become the paramount factor in many decisions, including human reproduction. ii. Individualism – Greater literacy and access to information fostered individualism within modern cultures as well as new hierarchies which favored commercial and intellectual elites. iii. Rationalism – complex issues means that to function properly in a modern society, one must be able to reason rationally and logically. iv. Progress – means doing away with tradition in favor of being modern. b. Postmodern period – The period of time between the mid 1900’s to today. Postmodernism is characterized by four qualities. i. Populism – An appeal to regular people by creating (or reflecting?) a struggle between them and an elite class. ii. Diversity – juxtaposing dissimilar aspects of culture together, such as taking classical music and remixing the songs into a dance song. iii. Nostalgia – Postmodern culture also pines for the past, when things were better. Many political ads play up this aspect of our culture when they say that they will protect American, family values. iv. Paradox- The modern, progressive period stressed breaking ties to old traditions while the Postmodern culture stresses integrating those traditional values into modern culture. V. Critiquing media and culture – Modern life and media are equally complex and it is inaccurate and inappropriate to make sweeping statements about how media affect or do not affect us. Therefore, being able to critically consume and analyze media texts, processes, and values is an important aspect of what it means to be an active participant in our society. a. Media literacy and the critical process i. Media literacy is defined as being able to understand how media socially construct the world around us through the usage of a critical thinking process. This process has five steps: 1. Description – Research the text or process under question and take careful notes. 2. Analysis – Look for meaningful patterns in the texts or processes that have risen from the description phase. What you’re doing here is essentially combing through your observations for similarities, differences. 3. Interpretation – Answer the question, “so what?” Explain why the patterns you noticed are important ones. 4. Evaluation – Arrive at a normative assessment of the phenomenon. Is this good or bad? 5. Engagement – Decide how you can take action with regard to this issue. What can you do with your voice or actions to make a difference? .